Tom: Your communication styles have something to do with your religion, Shintoism or Buddhism or Confucianism? Aki: Yes, I believe so. In Buddhism, silence is golden, while eloquence is not valued. Buddhism holds that words can never tell the truth. The more you speak, the farther away from the truth. Shinto is a nondualistic way of embracing reality, and highly receptive in nature and rejects nothing. Confucianism also plays a role in our communication. It values harmony and respect for the authority. So few Japanese try to challenge the authority. They are conformists and far from individualistic. Tom: Oh, that’s why Japanese people tend to be unassertive and give indirect, … Continue reading 植田一三, 上田敏子